I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cleaning compositions. More particularly, the present invention relates to aqueous, non-foaming cleaning compositions capable of removing stains from carpets, fabrics and other inanimate surfaces.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Fabric and carpet fibers may stain upon contact with water and proteinaceous materials, particulate matter, oily/greasy type soils, oxidizable materials, and numerous other materials. Such stains are conventionally removed by compositions containing combinations of cleansing surfactants that lift and remove these stains from the fabric. Stain removing compositions may also be formulated to further contain an array of enhancing agents including active oxygen-containing compounds, malodor reducing compounds, fragrances, and anti-soiling agents, commonly referred to as soil resists, that prevent or impede the re-soiling of the fabric after cleaning. One type of soil resist, a fluorosurfactant, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,240 to Tyerech et al. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,669 to Tyerech. Compositions for reducing malodor impressions are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,544 to Trinh et al. These include perfumes, metal salts and cyclodextrins.
In addition to providing acceptable stain removal ability, stain removal compositions must be stable for long periods of time under different conditions, and must be convenient and safe to use. Typically, a cleaning composition is delivered to a stain by way of a substrate, such as, a wipe, a cloth, or a sponge, or it is applied directly to the stain from the container in which it is housed. These containers may be adapted to spray or squirt the cleaning composition onto the stain and may also be fitted with an additional mechanical cleaning means, such as a brush or other textured surface, to aid in removing the stain.
Sprayable cleaners have been used for many years for both household and institutional cleaning of a variety of organic and inorganic soils on all types of surfaces, including textiles, hard surfaces, and other inanimate surfaces. Many of these sprayable cleaners are formulated as foaming cleaners due to the belief that the foaming action helps “lift” stains off the object or surface to be cleaned.
A number of attempts to provide fabric cleaning compositions have been made. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,723,323 and 3,723,358 to Morgan et al. each describe aqueous fabric treating shampoo compositions containing anionic or nonionic surfactants as cleansing agents and neutralized polymers of acrylic or methacrylic acid with styrene or other unsaturated monomers such as alkyl acrylates and methacrylates. The polymer is said to impart anti-soiling properties to fabrics cleaned with the compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,595 to Podella et al. provides non-flammable aqueous aerosol rug cleaners using hydrocarbon propellants. They possess reduced flammability due to the presence of at least 0.3% lauryl alcohol in combination with 0.3% to 10% of an alkali metal lauryl sulfate salt as at least one of the surfactants. The Podella et al. compositions also contain polymers of the type taught in the Morgan et al. patents noted above.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,686 to Douglas provides a carpet cleaning shampoo composition for carpets and pile fabrics, which claims to enhance the abrasion resistance and antistatic properties of the treated carpet or pile fabric. This benefit comes from the presence of an aqueous emulsion of oxygen-free polyethylene of particle size 0.02 to 0.5 microns and average molecular weight of 7,000 to 40,000 where at least 30% of the particles are covered with an emulsifier composition. This patent states that the composition possesses increased foaming action and that less force is needed to apply the shampoo to the carpet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,610 to Weisensel provides a carpet cleaning method for use with extraction machinery to clean carpets that contain high foaming anionic surfactants. The aqueous liquid or dry powder composition contains a cationic surfactant that reacts with and suppresses foaming of the anionic surfactant in the carpet, a nonionic surfactant as a primary cleaning agent, builders, fillers and chelating agents, and optionally, optical brighteners, dyes and perfumes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,992 to Troger et al. provides an aerosol cleaning agent for textile surfaces that contains plasticized urea-formaldehyde resin foam particles (0.005-0.120 mm), propellant, anti-settling agent, suspending agent, a liquid, and sodium aluminum silicate particles. A silicone defoamer may be included to promote the removal of soap residue. The product is applied to textile upholstery, allowed to dry and vacuumed away from the fabric.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,595 to Malik et al. provides a carpet shampoo or upholstery cleaning composition containing a glycoside surfactant, a normally solid, water-soluble or water dispersible polymer component and water. Optionally, antistatic agents, foam builders and stabilizers, such as, amine oxides and amphoteric cycloimidines or imidazolines, optical brighteners, perfumes and the like can also be included.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,100 to Moll provides a foaming aqueous aerosol fabric cleaning composition, which has foaming surfactants, solvents, propellants, builders and water. The foam arguably enters the fabric pile and brings dirt up to the surface as a second foam is formed when the solvent evaporates. The only requirement for surfactants is that they form a foam and can include organosilicones. Amphoteric surfactants such as betaines can be used.
The following further represent the state of the art. Additional carpet, textile, and fabric cleaning compositions are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,302 to Brown; U.S. Pat. No. 5,922,665 to Liu; U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,743 to Fonsny et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,368 to Tcheou et al.
While sprayable foaming cleaning compositions are well known in the art, they are not without disadvantage. Foams may contain at least 15% to about 30% air, which can result in an incomplete product to stain surface contact and subsequent cleaning ineffectiveness. Moreover, foam, when not completely removed from the surface being cleaned, can form a residue, which is not only visually undesirable, but requires additional cleaning to remove the residue.
Moreover, due to environmental air quality concerns, strict laws regulating the use of chemicals, such as solvents in cleaning solutions, that emit volatile organic compounds (VOC's), are in place. As a result, many current cleaning compositions with these solvents will require either discontinuance or drastic reformulation to meet the stringent VOC regulations. Without the use of these well known and effective solvents, current cleaning compositions may be ineffective.
To overcome these and other disadvantages, the cleaning composition of the present invention is a stable, non-foaming aerosol composition, capable of removing stains on carpets, fabrics, and other inanimate objects. In addition, the compositions of the present invention are uniquely formulated to not only have superior stain removal properties, but to also comply with environmental regulations directed to VOC's.